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2011-07-15

Will there be a single Microsoft operating system by 2015?

This is my next... reports an interesting rumor: There will eventually be a single Microsoft operating system. Quote:

What we’ve been told is that Microsoft is planning to somehow harmonize not only Windows for PCs and Windows Phone, but also the Xbox operating system sometime within the next four years — a timeframe that perfectly lines up with both the end of the Xbox 360′s 10-year lifecycle and the end of Windows 8′s expected three-year run. That would mean Microsoft’s next next OS will run on PCs, tablets, phones, and the next-gen Xbox when it hits sometime in 2015 / 2016.

That’s a smart move, one that is overdue at Microsoft. Apple already gets a lot of synergy out of using the same operating system for most of its devices: Macs, iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, Apple TVs all run (a version of) OS X, with similar APIs etc.

Microsoft’s universal operating system will probably not be called Windows. On one hand, that’s surprising, because Microsoft has preached the slogan “Windows everywhere” for years now. On the other hand, that name does not make sense, any more, if most of the user interfaces that are supported don’t even have windows, any more.